FSS And AFS Partner To Promote Digital Payments In The Middle East

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a global payments products and solutions provider and payment processor, and Arab Financial Services (AFS), the leading payment solutions provider and FinTech enabler in the Middle East and Africa, have entered into an agreement to bring omni-channel payment acceptance solutions to banks in the region. The partnership combines FSS’ technology expertise in acquiring and payments, with AFS’ payments processing and hosted services capabilities to aid acquiring banks rapidly grow their merchant acceptance business.

FSS and AFS have successfully launched services in Oman and Bahrain and will soon expand into other markets. Within 9 months AFS has bought four financial institutions onto the platform.

The Middle East is at the threshold of a significant development phase in digital payments and commerce.  According to Booz Allen Hamilton, the market is expected to grow 3X due to a large base of digitally empowered consumers and a favorable regulatory environment[i]. Through this partnership banks would benefit from the ability to rapidly deploy omni-channel acceptance solutions, eliminating heavy upfront Capex investments as well as the complexity of integrating acceptance platforms with multiple interchanges. The complete business solution includes payment acceptance for in-store and online transactions as well as merchant onboarding, settlement, risk management and reporting.

Commenting on the partnership, Ram Chari, Chief Operating Officer, FSS, stated; “Leading acquirers like AFS are broadening their partnership with FSS to benefit from cutting-edge, omni-channel capabilities embedded in our Acquiring stack. We have an established track-record of delivering innovative commerce solutions and are excited to partner with AFS to support their ambitious growth plans. With our full-services Acquirer Stack, AFS brings industry-leading capabilities to deliver new commerce experiences, better serve merchants and accelerate the growth of digital payments in the region.”

Commenting on the partnership, B. Chandrashekar, Chief Executive Officer, AFS, stated, “We chose FSS as our payment services partner after thoughtfully considering all options. Their world class processing platform and ability to support product innovations helps us bring differentiated solutions that will materially increase the adoption of digital payments and effectively foster the creation of an inclusive digital economy.”

FSS Acquirer Hub, an omni-channel acquiring solution, enables acquirers to accept, authenticate route and settle transactions originating from online, in-store or mobile channels. The key components include FSS Payment Gateway, FSS PoSability and FSS Merchant Hub.

FSS Payment Gateway offers a scalable and reliable platform for ubiquitous payment acceptance,  Scalable to process 4,000 transactions per second, the Gateway supports a wide range of  payment options — Wallets, cards, instant payment schemes, link payments — sophisticated authentication and real-time fraud management capabilities as well as advanced insights for improved business decisioning.

FSS PoSability bundles card acceptance, value added services, transaction processing, back-office functions and analytics into a single offering to help acquirers grow and manage their merchant portfolio.  Beyond basic acceptance services, FSS PoSability extends a host of added value services including dynamic currency conversion and data-driven insights to achieve market differentiation.

FSS Merchant, simplifies operations by consolidating critical merchant functions onto a single platform.  This includes merchant onboarding, risk management, accounting and settlement across POS, Internet and mobile channels. The solution offers acquiring acquirers the flexibility to adopt a progressive approach and integrate with a single channel and seamlessly add-on channels to meet evolving business demands.